THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT ONLY. No Solicitation is currently available. All information contained in this Sources Sought Announcement is preliminary, as well as subject to modification, and is in no way binding on the Government. The Government will not pay for any information submitted in response to this request. The information requested will be used solely within the Department of Veterans Affairs to facilitate decision making and will not be disclosed outside of the Government. The determination of a procurement strategy, based upon the comments submitted in response to this Sources Sought Announcement, is solely within the discretion of the Government. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 492110, Couriers and Express Delivery Services, and the small business size standard is 1500 employees. Potential Offerors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) to be eligible for an award (See Internet Site https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/). Potential Offerors must also have a current Online Representations and Certification Application on file with SAM. Service Disabled Veteran Owned and Veteran Owned Small Businesses must be registered and verified in the Department of Veterans Affairs Vendor Information Pages (VIP) (See Internet Site https://www.vip.vetbiz.gov/). Brief Description of Services VA Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS) requires the services of a commercial courier service to transport a variety of specialized and routine deliverables on a set schedule, as well as capacity for unscheduled pick up / deliveries, and some afterhours pick up/deliveries for the: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service requires transport of diagnostic blood, urine and pathology specimens from the outlying VAPAHCS laboratories to the main Laboratory in Palo Alto. Empty specimen transport containers and some minor supplies must be returned to the originating labs. Compensation and Pension Unit requires the transport of claims files on a set schedule to and from the main Compensation and Pension Unit at VAPAHCS Palo Alto Division to a variety of outlying VAPAHCS locations and to non-VAPAHCS locations such as the Oakland Regional Office of the Veterans Benefits Administration, as delineated below and in attachment. Pharmacy Service: requires courier service to transport prescriptions and medications on a set schedule to the main Pharmacy in Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Livermore from the outlying facility pharmacies. Occasional unscheduled pickup and delivery during business hours and some off hours emergency pickup and delivery is also required. Estimated 5 annual emergency trips for each site. Occasionally other services in the hospital will make as needed unscheduled single orders. These services include: Nursing, Engineering, and Radiology services. 2. Location of the Work: a. Primary Facility: Palo Alto VA Health Care System 3801 Miranda Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304 Compensation & Pension Unit: Building 100, Unit 2C Room C2-110 Laboratory: Building 100, 4th Floor, Room F4-130 Pharmacy, Building 100, 1st Floor, Room E1-120 SPS Decon, Building 100 Basement, Room EB-320 Livermore VA Clinic: 4951 Arroyo Road, Livermore, CA 94550 Compensation & Pension Unit: Building 64, Room 107 Livermore VA Health Care System: 4951 Arroyo Road, Livermore, CA 94550 Laboratory, Building 62, 2nd Floor, Room 202 Pharmacy, Building 62, 1st Floor, Room A-123 SPS, Building 62, 6th floor Room 613A Fremont VA Clinic, 39199 Liberty St, Fremont, CA 94538 Compensation & Pension: Front Desk Laboratory: Room 101 (next to the front desk) Pharmacy: Front Desk Menlo Park VA Hospital, 795 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA. 94025 Compensation & Pension: Building 334, Room D-230 Laboratory: Building 334, Room D-11 Pharmacy: Building 334, Room A-106 Modesto VA Clinic, 1225 Oakdale Road, Modesto CA 95355 Pharmacy: Clinic Front Desk Monterey VA Clinic, VA Gourley Clinic, 201 9th Street, Marina, CA 93933 Compensation & Pension: Main Building Laboratory: Main Building Pharmacy: Main Building Regional Office, Veterans Benefits Administration, 1301 Clay Street, Oakland, CA 94612 POC: Dennis Zapanta, (510) 637-6153 Compensation & Pension: 14th Floor North Tower Mailroom San Jose VA Clinic, 80 Great Oaks Blvd., San Jose, CA 95119 Compensation & Pension: Main Building, Room A-214 Laboratory: Main Building, Room A-300 Pharmacy: Main Building, Room B-310 This location is expected to change around Oct 2018. Contact the listed POC for updates. Expected address is 5855 Silver Creek Valley Place, San Jose, CA 95138 Stockton VA Clinic, 777 So. Freedom Dr., French Camp, CA 95231 Pharmacy: Clinic Front Desk Capitola VA Clinic, 1350 41st Ave, Suite 102, Capitola, CA 95010 Front desk for all services Deliverables: Diagnostic laboratory specimens, empty specimen coolers, Compensation and Pension claims files, minor supplies requiring courier service transport between facilities, Pharmacy medications and prescriptions. Items for transport are pre-packaged by VA staff. Performance Standards: Contractor pickup and delivery times will be within a 15-minute leeway time. Pick up / delivery times greater than 15 minutes require a phone call to the Laboratory contact with reason and within laboratory operating hours. Final traffic routes/patterns and times will be established prior to implementation, with mutual agreement. Customer service skills must be evident to VAPAHCS staff with no more than 3 complaints or referrals to the Laboratory Manager or the Compensation and Pension Medical Director per year. Contractor Qualification General: Offeror must possess a minimum of three (3) years experience, along with all necessary vehicles, equipment and personnel. When routes are established, the number of boxes and containers must be taken into consideration relative to the size of courier vehicle. Full containers must be segregated from empty containers to prevent mix up. Courier must provide cart or mechanism to transport multiple containers and boxes from each pick-up point to final delivery point. A means to return empty containers from the delivery points to the collecting facilities must be part of the daily pick up/delivery service. Contractor must have a backup for pick up and deliveries in the event the regular driver/vehicle breaks down, and un/scheduled time off. Contractor shall ensure all vehicles used are air conditioned, have heaters, and are clean and in proper operational condition. Vehicles must use temperature controls to maintain specimen area at 70 -72F. Couriers may not use their own personal vehicles to transport laboratory specimens. Requests for exception must be made to the Laboratory Manager. Containers, coolers, supplies cannot be taken to a drivers home. Vehicles must be marked with company logo. Vehicles must have a mechanism to keep specimen coolers upright and secure during transport (so specimens do not spill). Drivers must have a means to assure that empty and full specimen coolers are not mixed upon pickup, transport or delivery. Vehicles must have capability of GPS or transponder tracking and telephones to contact staff in the event of a late arrival. Contractor must have a means of measuring pickup and delivery times and establishing a quality control report on percent of times delivered within time frame, problems encountered, driver, delivered to etc. Copy of all State licenses/Operating permits shall be provided to the Contracting Officer (CO) or Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR) upon contract award. TSA Certification is preferred (homeland security). Contractor must be able to accommodate some special delivery requests for specimens or supplies or to adapt to additional routes when new clinic locations are built within the VA Palo Alto valley coverage area (see below or http://www.paloalto.va.gov) or deliveries to other VAs in close proximity during the duration of the contract. A mechanism for discounting rates for additional routes should be defined within the contract. Contract modifications will be made as required. Drivers: Couriers must be able to lift and handle multiple routine boxes and containers measuring up to 2 ft. by 3 ft., with other irregular sized special containers and files. Drivers may not use their personal cars for pickup and delivery of Laboratory specimens due to the potential for infectious disease transmission. Requests for exception to this must be made to the Laboratory Manager. Drivers may not store any coolers, shipping containers, supplies or documents being transferred in their personal cars, homes or non-work possession between transits. Customer service skills training of contractor staff must be performed, documented and evident to the VAPAHCS Laboratory staff. Complaints or issues will be submitted to the Assistant Chief of Ambulatory Care Service or the Laboratory Manager. Professional contract services are required which include courier uniforms, identification and identification on the delivery vehicle. The Contractor s employees shall wear identification tags that include the company s name/logo and employee name. All drivers must maintain a valid driver s license for the type of vehicle operated as required by the States of California. A record of each driver as to character, past driving history and physical capabilities of performing the duties as a courier must be maintained and made available to the COTR for inspection upon request. Smoking, drinking of alcohol or alcohol on the breath of drivers is prohibited when transporting Lab work. The contract manager, drivers, and alternates, must be able to read, write, speak, and understand English. The name of this person, and an alternate, or alternates, who shall act for the contractor when the manager is absent, shall be designated in writing to the COTR. An updated listing will be provided as changes in personnel occur. Drivers and/or Company must be bonded for this service requirement. End of Scope description Capability Statement The Government requests that interested parties provide the following capability information to the Contract Specialist, Parvinder Brar by email at: [email protected] by close of business September 25, 2018: (a) Business Size (Large/Small) (b) Business Socio-Economic Status (SDVOSB, WOSB, 8(a), HUBZone, etc.) (c) SAM record (www.sam.gov) (d) VIP record (SDVOSB/VOSB firms only) (https://www.vip.vetbiz.gov/) (e) DUNS number (f) Ability and experience in managing similar projects. Include general information and technical background describing your firm's experience on contracts requiring similar efforts to meet the program objectives. (g) List of Projects (Government and Commercial) that are similar in scope and size. (h) Anticipated Teaming Arrangements (if any) (i) GSA Contract Number if applicable. (j) Copies of certificates/licenses as identified above under Contractor Qualifications Interested parties shall not submit more than 10 single-sided, type-written pages using 12-point font or larger. Published literature may be any number of pages. The Government will use this information when determining its business type decision. This synopsis is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government and no contract will be awarded as a direct result of this Sources Sought announcement.      *Failure to provide the information requested above (items (a) (j)) will be considered non-responsive and will not be considered a viable source.

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